Round Two in my battle with the furry little chompers of my herbs

[athena]

74. The point is to minimize suffering.

I do, indeed, avoid eating animal products. No one who has a conscience can support the factory farming industry, which is where 99% of the animal products at the store come from. I do make an exception for a small amount of cheese every few weeks; I have vegetarian food at restaurants when vegan food is not available; and I use animal products on a smaller scale in certain other areas of my life; but that is only because I have found, through experience, that perfectionism is not possible in a world that is based on exploiting animals. I am aware that I cannot single-handedly end all suffering, but I can certainly reduce it through my own actions.

As for store-bought vegetables, a little thought will show you that the number of groundhogs killed per vegetable has to be much smaller when you have a large farm than when you have a tiny vegetable garden. A groundhog will devour your entire vegetable garden, but no number of groundhogs will be able to devour an entire field of vegetables. They don't live close enough to each other to be able to do that.

The argument that it's OK to torture and kill animals because it's impossible to live without hurting them in some way is a faulty one. By your logic, we should all buy SUVs and waste as much energy as possible because we are not going to be able to stop global warming. I am not going to sit here and watch quietly as people congratulate each other and themselves for trapping animals. The fact is that trapping animals and transporting them to unfamiliar areas, away from their young, is cruel. And I find it very interesting that I have touched such a nerve by merely informing people of this.